Legendary Private Spaceship Designer Burt Rutan Announces Retirement

Burt Rutan sitting in the shell of SpaceShipTwo during its construction. Rutan made history as the designer of SpaceShipOne, the first privately funded space vehicle to reach suborbital space during the Ansari X-Prize of in 2004.Credit: Virgin Galactic/sky26

Renowned aerospace designer and leading
architect of private space travel, Burt Rutan,
has announced that he plans to retire next year.

Rutan is the founder
of the imaginative aerospace research firm, Scaled
Composites, located at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. He currently serves as Scaled's chief technical officer and
following his retirement, Rutan will assumethe title of founder and chairman emeritus. [Interview with
Burt Rutan]

Rutan has worked in California's Antelope Valley for more than 45 years, initially as a
flight test project engineer forthe Air
Force. In 1974 he founded the Rutan Aircraft Factory to develop experimental
aircraft for homebuilders.

Wild ride of SpaceShipOne

In 2004, Rutan made headlines around the
globe as the designer of
SpaceShipOne, billed as the world's first privately-built piloted
spacecraft to reach space, and as winner of the $10 million Ansari X Prize, the
competition created to spur the development of affordable
space tourism.

"Breakthroughs
are what define our species," said Rutan. "Manned spaceflight is not
only for governments to do. We proved it can be done by a small company
operating with limited resources and a few dozen dedicated employees. The next
25 years will be a wild ride; one that history will note was done for
everyone's benefit."

Rutan
has amassed a long list of breakthroughs in his career, such as designing the
legendary Voyager ? the first aircraft to circle the world nonstop ? without
refueling. He also developed the Proteus high-altitude, long-endurance test bed
aircraft.

Other
recent projects include the Virgin
Atlantic GlobalFlyer, which broke the Voyager's record time and enabled the
first nonstop, solo flight around the world.

"Burt is known worldwide as
a legendary genius in aircraft design in the aviation world. I am very
fortunate andproud to have worked by his side for the past
28 years," said Scaled president Douglas Shane in a Nov. 3 statement.

The da Vinci of modern aerospace

Will Whitehorn, president of Virgin Galactic ?
the suborbital spaceline operator of the WhiteKnightTwo/SpaceShipTwo
launch system now under development by Scaled Composites and backed by UK
adventurer and businessman, Sir Richard Branson ? commented on Rutan's
retirement announcement.

"To say something about Burt is simple ? he is a genius and an inspiration to a whole generation now
wanting to push the frontiers of aerospace technology," Whitehorn
told SPACE.com. "I don't believe Sir Richard
would have shown the amazing vision he had to back the risk capital in
SpaceshipTwo's early development phase if it had not been Burt and Scaled
behind the X prize-winning vehicle on which our beautiful commercial
vehicles are based."

Virgin
Galactic has been making steady progress with its SpaceShipTwo vehicle, which
has flown two glide test flights and is poised to soon begin its first
rocket-powered flights.

Whitehorn
added: "Burt is the Leonardo da Vinci of modern
aerospace and his work will be remembered in the centuries to
come."

Leonard
David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. He
is past editor-in-chief of the National Space Society's Ad Astra and Space
World magazines and has written for SPACE.com since 1999.